“I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life.”
- Tennyson’s “Ulysses”

Keeping your skills sharp and up-to-date is a requirement for any industry you’re in, but the Internet takes this to new levels of chaos. The technology evolves so rapidly you have little time to breathe and master your art before the next wave hits. So what to do?

Let’s start with what NOT to do - the worst thing you can do is stand still. Never stand still - how dull is it to pause, to rust unburnished..

We like to stay informed on the bleeding edge of the technology curve, but scale back a year for actual development, sometimes two-three years depending on the type of client and their accessibility requirements. You want your web technology to be as widely accessible as possible. Unless your business model is specifically targeting early (technology) adopters, you want to let the “masses” catch up so you are half-sigma away from the average Internet user.

Here are elements to keep in mind:
- Technology platforms (PHP, .NET, Ruby on Rails, Java, etc) - are they fads or trends?
- Plug-ins such as Flash, Quicktime, and so on - what’s the best way to showcase your media? Who’s using it? How fast do upgrades get pushed out? What’s the user adoption rate?
- Bandwidth - low connection speed alternatives to your site content, do you need them?
- Screen resolution - what is the average screen resolution?
- Browser compatibility - what browsers will your users be using? IE, Firefox, Safari, or ?
- Accessibility requirements (font size, screen readers, etc.)

As with anything, plan for success. You’ll need to define your target market not just with demographics, but with a technological profile.

Bruce

I’m a big fan of Patch Adam’s ‘laughter is the best medicine’. Medicine may be to clinical, but it’s certainly a great way to difuse some stress. So here is a great link to make your coders lol…

Code rhymes, bust’n it true
Cobol is old and so are you

Ok, I suck, but these guys are way better.. and by better I mean way funnier..

Here are some samples from that site:
“Step to my DJ, you better step prepared / He got (28+22/50) squared”

“I’m a player, which is not to say I get a lot of chicks / But I’ve played through Final Fantasy 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.”

“Cuz I can kick it in Algol, roll it up in Snobol / Anything from Ruby all the way back to Cobol.”

“My rhymes flow just like my code / even though my source is owned by SCO.”

“Dear Internet, you’ve pwned my life / And if you had an orifice I’d make you my wife.”

A resource list of the most popular APIs available on the web for your very own Web 2.1 Mashup…

http://www.programmableweb.com/apis

Web service APIs are fairly easy to build. If you’re developing software consider including a few APIs to allows others to mash with your application. Think of the context your application is used and if and how information within your app can be used in another. It’s an easy feature to add and can create some upsell opportunities. The more embedded your application is with your customers, the happier your CFO will be; what better way to embed the application then for it to become a critical element in a larger business system?

On the flip side, consider how you can use other free or cheap applications within the scope of your own. Synergy is not just a feel good human resource term for creating productive teams, but can also be used in your development. Example: if you have location data, consider the Google Maps API to bring up instant directions. How about StrikeIron, it has a range of web services that cull data from the US Census and tax bureau tied to real estate listings showing the demographic information of the neighbourhoods.

Opportunities are many; be creative. Think of the value proposition of your application and tie what you’re doing to what else the user staring at your app screen wants to do or would like to do or would be convienient to do. Mash ups are leverage opportunities to provide interesting, unique and fun features at fraction of the development time.